Re: Legal? Peaceful?

["Alan Bradley" <alanb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> From: Gary MacLennan
> My own experience in the mass movement here in Brisbane has been that the
> anarchists represented the pacifist tendency.  It is I suppose a comment
> on Australian Anarchism, but it is shot through with Tolstoyanism,
> Ghandiism, Dorothy  Dayism and all sorts of vegetarian non-violence.  It
> seems to me looking back on it over the years that they always seemed to
> pick on me as the most violent demonstrator. So at the usual rally not
> only had I to worry about the Special Branch wedge, but I would be
> surrounded and harangued by extraordinarily aggressive pacifists. It was
> very wearing on the spirit. I should hasten to add here that generally my
> 'violence' consisted of refusing to raise my hands in the air to make it
> easier for the police to arrest me.

There are occasional crops of young "too dumb to feel pain" types in
Brisbane.  I particularly remember that at one of the Gulf War demos back
in '91 (so long ago!) a bunch of anarchists came up from the hippie towns
in northern New South Wales.  They were impressively stupid, and got
pounded to hamburger, while the rest of the demonstrators just watched them
from a safe distance, wondering what the hell they thought they were doing.
 Before the demo, I noticed one of them was wearing the bloody Confederate
flag, presumably for its "Rebel" overtones, without realising what it
actually stood for.  Morons.

A lot of the space occupied by the anarchists in the US is filled by
"Marxists" in Australia.  In particular, the ISO specialises in student
oriented semi-anarchist ultraleftism.  You can catch them at the pub after
demos, bragging about what great cop-fighters they are.  Total poseurs.

Alan Bradley
alanb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx